A Conversation with David Mead (continued)

PM: So how about that [producer] Brad Jones?

DM: Man, where to start?

PM: Holy Christmas! He's so incredible on this record.

DM: He totally rocked my world.

PM: He seems to get more musical with every month that passes.

DM: I know. It's just insane. I mean, the record he did right before my record--I think it was that Thad Cockerel record. Thad Cockerel and Caitlin Cary. Yeah, because we started Tangerine in March of last year.

PM: Right.

DM: And if you listen to that record and you listen to my record, it's like--I mean, you can definitely see a shared sensibility. But that's like George Jones and Tammy Wynette.

PM: Oh, yeah, it's a totally different sonic universe. [See our interviews with Thad and Caitlin, and hear some clips from that CD here.]

DM: I know. But I mean, he's really on it. He seems to have emerged into a new level. I just like the way his mind works. He's really fearless about everything.

PM: He's a fantastically awake character.

DM: Very well put. He's very awake. He's very aware. I don't know if I know anybody who seems to get more out of every moment of his life. I mean, whether I'd made a record with him or not, just being able to hang out with him for a month was pretty damn cool.

PM: His theremin stuff on "Suddenly a Summer Night"--I mean, it sounds like the conversations of ghosts. It was unbelievable! [laughs]

DM: Yeah, I know, I know. And man, my favorite--well, I love how Brad--he is very natural on one level, and sort of very organic in his approach to recording. But if he gets an idea, he will hunt it down. I probably shouldn't reveal this--I'm sure he doesn't care--I don't really care, either. But I actually credit him with playing the calliope on "Hard To Remember," which he should have, for all purposes, but we couldn't really find a calliope and we couldn't find my samples that were worth a damn. So Brad found a recording of a guy playing a patriotic song I can't name on the calliope and--

PM: [laughs] Yeah, yeah. We could have a copyright issue there, so let's protect the innocent. But what's the story?

DM: The story, though--he found this--I think he found it online. It was in a completely different key. He cut all of the notes up individually, and--

PM: Get the hell out of here.

DM: And he rearranged the key, and then put it all back together for that song.

PM: [laughs] Oh, that's insane!

DM: I mean, who would even think to do that?

PM: That's funny. I can't wait to spread that story among my studio buddies.

DM: Please do.

PM: That's messed up. That's the ultimate cut and paste.

DM: It was serious cut and paste. And the funny thing--I mean, even though he placed it in, it was kind of behind the beat and a little like cricket-y, like it would be if you were actually playing it, because that's such a--I've only seen one in person once, but it's such a singular sound.

PM: Unbelievable. So what bass, or basses was Brad playing on this record? Do you remember?

DM: I know he played a Mustang on a track. I mean, he kind of has a go-to bass. It's either just a Fender Jazz or a Fender P. Bass, and I don't know the year. He played a little bit of upright, and he played a little--I think he had an Explorer Bass, too.

PM: You don't see those every day. [laughs] Would he add touches when you weren't there, and then surprise you the next day, or--

DM: He would add like mixing touches, and he did that calliope thing. The calliope thing was actually the one thing he did completely on his own, that I wasn't even aware of. And he said, "What do you think about this?" I was like, "What, did you go find a carnie somewhere and get a field recording of this while I was gone?

PM: [laughs] That's really a good story.

DM: He's always moving. The thing is, too, he basically mixed that record as we recorded it. There wasn't like a two-week mixing process. I would say all the songs were about 90% there. From the best of my recollection, about 90% there before he actually went back and really sat down and started the mixing.

PM: Yeah. And everybody ought to hear that, because, for those who are trying to keep the budget down, that is the way it's done.

DM: Totally. And that record was recorded completely digitally and mixed in Protools and everything, but the way he does it, sonically it's my favorite record. I mean, we recorded my first two records to tape. But this record, to me, almost has more of a nice analog curve to it than those records do, because--I mean, that was kind of the '90s, too. You sort of got a certain amount of gloss and over-compression on everything.

PM: So while we're on the subject of our talented friends, we ought to say--I want to say something about the amazing David Henry.

DM: Well, he never blinks.

[laughter]

DM: He's like the bravest cellist I've ever met. It was funny, actually, because he came in about three quarters of the way through the tracking of this record. And the last thing he'd heard of mine was Indiana. And I could kind of see him sitting there for a second--I think the first thing he played on was probably "Tangerine Overture." And he was like--I could see him kind of looking at me like, "What are you doing?"

[laughter]

PM: "Am I in a musical, or..."

DM: I know, yeah. I know. And then he nailed it, as usual.

PM: So what inspired you to do an overture?--which I thought was really super, and it'll be one of the audio clips for sure.

DM: Oh, great. Thanks.

PM: What inspired that? Was it your idea or the producer's?

DM: It was my idea. I'm just trying to remember, though, why I had the idea. Well, we kind of went about it backwards when we decided that the end of "Making It Up Again" needed this kind of go riding off into the sunset end coda to it that had nothing to do with the rest of the song.

PM:   Right.

DM: So we just created this cycle of chords, a circle of fifths that just goes back on itself so nicely. At some point it just hit me like, could I take that and fit in a lot of the themes into that context, and see if we could do it.   continue

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